Wow, we're in our second or third week of a heat wave. Temperatures every day have been 33C or the high 90s F.

I've not had the oven on, and I've only been using the stovetop to cook things. On Saturday and Sunday I was out gardening and mowing the lawn. The only way I can tolerate the sun and heat is to dip my shirt and a white towel in cold water and wear the towel over my head and under a hat with sunglasses. That will keep my cool for thirty minutes.

I don't have air conditioning in my house. So during the day I close the windows, pull down the blinds and run the dehumidifier. Then in the evening I open things up and turn on the ceiling fans. Sleep in my shorts on top of the sheets. And keep a cold, damp towel around.

These are the times when little things like eating nice meals are rewards for making it through the day._________________' She says, 'I am the glamorous type.' I said, 'So what?'

We're enduring the heat wave as well with temps in the high 20's and low 30's but with intense humidity. For the most part it doesn't bother me but nights can be challenging. While our house has 30 inch stone walls our bedroom is upstairs directly under a pitched roof so no matter how cool the downstairs is maintained the bedroom is a furnace. We've never resorted to getting A/C and rely on one fan and sometimes two. The heat is compounded by the fact that 4 miniature schnauzers seem to like to cosy up with one regardless of temperature. I have been known to resort to taking one of those freezer packs, wrapping it in a pillow case and falling asleep with it between my thighs.

I also find spicy foods seem to help a bit and lots and lots of water._________________Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!

I have AC in the bedroom only, and our temps have been over 100F for the past couple of days, with bad air warnings and humidity enough that it feels like about 105. I plan activities for very early morning or a couple hours after sunset.

Here's my favorite hint: Keep a spray-mist bottle of water in the refrigerator. Settle yourself under/in front of a fan with your mist bottle, a large, iced, non-alcoholic drink and as few clothes as possible. Mist your skin well with the chilled water. Sip your drink while you cool down by evaporation.

Don't know if it's a product that's widely available or not, but there's a thing I know as "polymer crystals" that turns into a water-retaining jelly when wet. It's commonly used in the US in gardening in arid regions and in the manufacture of disposable diapers and incontinence supplies.

You can buy heat-fighting neck wraps that enclose a bit of these crystals. Making one wouldn't be hard either. What you do is wet the crystals and then tie the moist but not drippy tie around your neck where it helps cool the blood vessels close to the skin.

To make one, you'd sew a tube of cotton fabric long enough to wrap around your neck about twice and, say, an inch in diameter. You'd section the tube in three parts and sew one of these boundaries closed. You'd pour 2 or 3 tablespoonsful of the dry crystals into the open end of the tube and close off the middle third by sewing it shut. Then you can hydrate the crystals by submerging the middle portion briefly. The crystials will swell to 6-8 times their original size. You would probably hang or suspend the whole thing briefly so that the cotton fabric would stop dripping. Maybe you'd even want to place it in the fridge for 5 minutes.

When the fabric is no longer drippy, you can tie in around your neck to help in heat transfer. I'm guessing the crystals will retain moisture for an hour or longer._________________God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor

This is the hotest I remember since the summer of 1988. That was the year the Mississippi River around St. Louis dried out and temperatures in the Midwest were around 100F.

I picked wild peaches at lunch today and they're sitting in my car. Likely by the time I go home tonight they'll be cooked.

I suspect there are going to be many impatient drivers and workers this week. I don't even want to look at the weather forcast since it's likely too bleak._________________' She says, 'I am the glamorous type.' I said, 'So what?'

pace tourself, keep hydrated, belive it or not HOT showers can trick the body into beliving its actually cooler

and the ultimate in staying cool is contained in my signature_________________I would like a gin martini, straight up, olives on the side, as dry as my wit, as clean as my conscience.
and... as cold as my heart!!!!

David, last summer we seemed to switch off with Vancouver. Our BC friends got our heat and we got their cloudy, moderate weather. Glad you can enjoy when it's hot and get the breaks too!

Living in LA, I ALWAYS have coolers in my car, sarape. I take them into the market and get my milk, etc. packed into them instead of bags. If you just go out picking on foot, there are wonderful backpack-type and rolling coolers to be had and I highly recommend them. If I didn't have them with me all the time, I'd let an awful lot of food spoil or never get all my errands in._________________God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor

Well I'm just glad our summer here just passed through (summer in the tropics is March to May), but yeah, it was the hottest one so far in my lifetime. The sun was so painful on the skin I dreaded to go out of the office during the daytime. We never planned a summer trip to the beach this year, looked like skin cancer was a real possibility.

So this is global warming? Just read about how the glaciers in Alaska have shrunk. It's just so scary, how are we going to cope in the next summers to come?

Last summer we did cope by gorging on summer fruits - watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, mango. And drinking lots of iced water. Not iced tea, because it's diuretic.

Simona, you caught me No I don't not have a cold heart, in fact those who know me accuse me of being an' ole softee

but I do prefer my martinis to be artic, and when said with grim determination, locking my server with a steely glare it tends to get my point across......so please don't let my secret out _________________I would like a gin martini, straight up, olives on the side, as dry as my wit, as clean as my conscience.
and... as cold as my heart!!!!

sarape, I may or not be out of this world, but I stand by my original statement!!! I had read about this, and decided to put it to the test one Louisiana heat wave with a broken a/c

Taking a shower as hot as I could possibly stand it and for as long as I could
seemed to raise my skin temperature to be higher than that of the surrounding air, and I experienced a comfortable "cooling sensation"
for some times thereafter of course the best thing is when they fixed the A/C!!

while living in the "northenmost bannana republic" may not qualify as "other-worldly" spending half-a century in the tropics does teach one a thing or 2 if you choose not to belive me.... no sweat!!! or perhaps a lot of sweat

your choice_________________I would like a gin martini, straight up, olives on the side, as dry as my wit, as clean as my conscience.
and... as cold as my heart!!!!

Taking a shower as hot as I could possibly stand it and for as long as I could
seemed to raise my skin temperature to be higher than that of the surrounding air,

O'kay, yea I accept this view. But you're still raising your body temperature in that hot shower. I'm sure not going to try the hot-shower approach. But, I agree that it works for you._________________' She says, 'I am the glamorous type.' I said, 'So what?'